Nature Offers Another Lesson to the Solar Power Industry (go biomimicry!)

image from Torresol Energy

We've written about Fibonacci Series before here on bLAGI. So it does not come as a great surprise to us that the layout of heliostats (solar-tracking mirrors) around a solar power tower could benefit from the natural geometry that informs the physical expression that is manifest by countless of nature's most beautiful flora, including sunflower, cauliflower, pine cone, cactus, and cabbage.

Thus is the news out of MIT, where researchers have managed to increase the electrical output per square meter of land area around solar power towers like those in operation by Abengoa and Torresol, and the one now under construction by BrightSource.

Above is an idea of what the new arrangement of heliostats will be for solar power towers in the near future (click image to view the source). It seems so obvious doesn't it? 🙂